I Want to Hold Your Hand

The table in the kitchen was sticky with partly dried milk and had begun to smell like the fridge. Marlon was eating last nights chips from the floor, so at least his personal space was clean. It wasn't much, but he seemed to be doing his best.
“Come here boy, there's cats on TV. What would you do to those cats? What would you do to them? Marlon boy, leave those chips alone and get in here.”
The dog looked up when he heard the voices but quickly got back to his chores when he saw the bloodied face beckoning him over.
“I could have done with you last night when it got rough mate, fighting in my corner. Some people just don't know when to give up. Still, taught her a lesson she won't forget in a hurry.”
“Did you know who she was?” Mark spoke from his chair in the corner like his conscience.
“Yeah. She lived there when I lived round the corner a few years back. She was shit scared of dogs.” He smiled. “If I'd remembered before hand I would have brought Marlon, scared her shitless, it would have been easier. She wouldn't have come near me then.”
“What did she hit you with?” The TV was on but Mark wasn't watching it, just staring at Mike.
“Nothing! She tried to scratch my bloody eyes out! I was taking her rings off, all was calm. Then when I went for her necklace she went berserk. I had to rip it off her in the end. Its got a bit of her hair stuck in the chain. We'll need to get off it before we sell it.”
Mike threw the carrier bag over to Mark and he pulled out the necklace, and began pulling the fine strands of grey hair from the chain.
“It's not very heavy. I bet its not even worth much. What's this picture in the bottom?” He was rooted around in the carrier bag and pulled out a piece of paper about the size of a postage stamp.
“I don't know, thought it might be someone famous. It was in the necklace, it fell out when she started trying to blind me. I picked it up to give her back, thought it might calm her down but I'd hit her a couple a times with the bar to get off me and she wasn't moving so I thought I'd bring it too. It might be part of a set you know, the necklace and the picture. Worth more with both of them together so I brought it back. What do you reckon?”
Mark eyed the photo with a new interest. “Maybe. Sounds about right. If we can find the right buyer. It'll mean something to someone all complete.”
“What times Kate coming round tomorrow?” Kate was Mark's daughter. She lived with his ex-girlfriend on another estate on the other side of the city.
“After lunch. Its her birthday Tomorrow. Shit, did you remember to get her something?” She was dropped off every Wednesday at 2.30 and picked up three hours later when her Mom got out of the hairdressers.
“Arse. I could just give her one of these necklaces. A nice gold one.” She called it the hairdressers but it was a flat across the fall where a girl she had met in beauty college did hair a lot cheaper than the high street places. Plus you could smoke and have a coffee and a gossip at the same time.
“Fuck that. She'll just sell it when she gets pissed off with me. Those things are traceable. That's why we only sell them to dirty Barry. He melts them down or something.” Dirty Barry lived above the butchers.
“What have you got her? Can I just chip in?” He never chipped in.
“I've got a phone a nicked a couple of weeks ago, its got fifteen quid of credit on it. I thought I'd give her that so she can text me if she wants to, you know, talk to her Dad. I never get any texts.” Kate already had two mobile phones.
“A phone? She's only twelve. What does she need a phone for? Give her a nice necklace. Fifteen quid of credit? You should've given that to me. Fifteen quid. She'll just be calling up dirty sex lines or something.” Mike used around £50 of credit a day.
“I told you, the necklaces are too risky. If her Mom sees it she'll be back here like a shot trying to get some more money out of me.”